From the moment a government entity makes the decision to initiate a
procurement procedure until that procedure is finalized through the award of a contract to a winning supplier, the procuring entity’s course of action is regulated in great detail by relevant public procurement legislation which for Swedish contracting authorities primarily consists of primarily law (2016:1145) on public procurement. The award of the contract is also the start of a contractual relationship between the government agency and the supplier where the procuring agency remains bound by several different sets of obligations but where explicit procurement regulation in the form of law is conspicuously absent.
Swedish procurement regulations are based on the... (More)

From the moment a government entity makes the decision to initiate a
procurement procedure until that procedure is finalized through the award of a contract to a winning supplier, the procuring entity’s course of action is regulated in great detail by relevant public procurement legislation which for Swedish contracting authorities primarily consists of primarily law (2016:1145) on public procurement. The award of the contract is also the start of a contractual relationship between the government agency and the supplier where the procuring agency remains bound by several different sets of obligations but where explicit procurement regulation in the form of law is conspicuously absent.
Swedish procurement regulations are based on the rules and principles of
EU procurement law. This means that principles of non-discrimination,
equal treatment, transparency and proportionality remain relevant
throughout the contract phase. In order to fulfill the obligations arising from these principles the contracting authority has to carefully think through its actions both during the creation and the implementation of the contract.
During the creation of the tender and the contract that results from it, it is of the utmost importance that the procuring entity only places demands on the supplier that are possible to verify. In the Wienstrom case the CJEU plainly stated that the lack of a possibility to ensure that the contractual obligations of the supplier were being met constituted a breach of the principle of equal treatment, which can result in serious consequences for the contracting authority.
In addition to the requirement that the terms and conditions of the contract are possible to verify, clarity in the construction of the contract serves several other purposes as well. After having weighed relevant parts of swedish domestic administrative law and contract law, one conclusion that I draw is that any uncertainties in the contract will very likely be held against the government agency, which can result in significant problems for that agency both under guiding principles of public procurement and under contract law.
Throughout the course of the contract the government authority has an
obligation to make sure that no significant changes are made to the contract.
In addition to the negative implications this has for the contracting entity’s ability to adjust the terms and conditions of the contract in a practical manner it places a duty on the entity to make sure that the supplier holds up its end of the bargain, since responsibility for the maintenance of the contract remains with the government agency. The risk for a conflict between the procuring agency’s other obligations and its requirement to uphold the contract is also prevalent. A clear understanding of all of the entity’s obligations - not just those that arise from procurement legislation -is therefore highly important throughout the procurement process. (Less)

@misc{8897808,
abstract = {From the moment a government entity makes the decision to initiate a
procurement procedure until that procedure is finalized through the award of a contract to a winning supplier, the procuring entity’s course of action is regulated in great detail by relevant public procurement legislation which for Swedish contracting authorities primarily consists of primarily law (2016:1145) on public procurement. The award of the contract is also the start of a contractual relationship between the government agency and the supplier where the procuring agency remains bound by several different sets of obligations but where explicit procurement regulation in the form of law is conspicuously absent.
Swedish procurement regulations are based on the rules and principles of
EU procurement law. This means that principles of non-discrimination,
equal treatment, transparency and proportionality remain relevant
throughout the contract phase. In order to fulfill the obligations arising from these principles the contracting authority has to carefully think through its actions both during the creation and the implementation of the contract.
During the creation of the tender and the contract that results from it, it is of the utmost importance that the procuring entity only places demands on the supplier that are possible to verify. In the Wienstrom case the CJEU plainly stated that the lack of a possibility to ensure that the contractual obligations of the supplier were being met constituted a breach of the principle of equal treatment, which can result in serious consequences for the contracting authority.
In addition to the requirement that the terms and conditions of the contract are possible to verify, clarity in the construction of the contract serves several other purposes as well. After having weighed relevant parts of swedish domestic administrative law and contract law, one conclusion that I draw is that any uncertainties in the contract will very likely be held against the government agency, which can result in significant problems for that agency both under guiding principles of public procurement and under contract law.
Throughout the course of the contract the government authority has an
obligation to make sure that no significant changes are made to the contract.
In addition to the negative implications this has for the contracting entity’s ability to adjust the terms and conditions of the contract in a practical manner it places a duty on the entity to make sure that the supplier holds up its end of the bargain, since responsibility for the maintenance of the contract remains with the government agency. The risk for a conflict between the procuring agency’s other obligations and its requirement to uphold the contract is also prevalent. A clear understanding of all of the entity’s obligations - not just those that arise from procurement legislation -is therefore highly important throughout the procurement process.},
author = {Albrecht, Alexander},
keyword = {offentlig upphandling,avtalsrätt,förvaltningsrätt},
language = {swe},
note = {Student Paper},
title = {Avtalsuppföljning i offentlig upphandling - Hur säkerställer myndigheter ett rättsenligt agerande vid uppföljning av upphandlade varu-och tjänstekontrakt?},
year = {2016},
}